Leeds ready to unveil talent to rival Rooney

WHILE Wayne Rooney may currently be dominating the headlines, Leeds have their own potential young superstar ready to burst onto the scene in James Milner.

Such has been Milner’s rapid progress at Leeds, manager Terry Venables had harboured hopes the 16-year-old winger would be on the bench for Thursday’s UEFA Cup second-round first-leg victory over Hapoel Tel-Aviv.

Unfortunately for Venables and Milner, the youngster was denied the prospect of a debut in front of a 30,000 crowd at Elland Road as UEFA rules stipulate the minimum age limit for players to participate in their competitions is 17.

Like Rooney, Milner is definitely one for the future both at club and potentially international level for England, and as he does not turn 17 until January, there is the chance he could break the Everton striker’s record of becoming the youngest player to score in the Premiership.

Whether Rooney and Milner will be on opposing benches on Sunday when Everton face Leeds at Elland Road remains to be seen as Venables is playing his cards close to his chest.

However, having seen the media hype which has surrounded Rooney in the wake of his wonder goal which brought Arsenal’s long unbeaten run to an end a fortnight ago, he is understandably wary when it comes to Milner.

‘‘From what I have seen of Rooney he looks magnificent,’’ said Venables.

‘‘The goal he scored against Arsenal was hot stuff. That was great. Rooney is exciting. It’s natural you would want to know more about him and talk about him. It’s a great story. Arsenal go to Everton and this young boy scores this goal.

‘‘Now the club isn’t hyping him up. They’re saying leave him alone and let him grow up a little bit before you start getting carried away.

‘‘They’re also saying to the boy ‘keep your feet on the ground because you’re a young lad with a long way to go’. They are trying to do it with common sense.

‘‘From a media point of view you want a fairytale. You don’t want common sense, and a boring idea about it.

‘‘Now with someone like James we’ve got to nurture him too. He is one who has come through very quickly. It sometimes happens.

‘‘He is a good all-round player. Often they don’t have the strength when they are his age, but he has that too. He knows the game, is intelligent and he has a lot of potential,” he said.

After what Venables describes as a lean spell with young players emerging from the Leeds academy, Milner would appear to be one of a number poised to make a name for himself.

‘‘James still does a lot of his work with the academy, but this morning he was in with the first team, so we will keep a close eye. As to whether he plays on Sunday, I don’t know yet. We’ll have to wait and see.’’